The Ungovernable Society
- 350 stránek
- 13 hodin čtení
The 1970s were shaken by a massive "governability crisis": the economic world faced significant indiscipline from workers, as well as the so-called "managerial revolution," unprecedented ecological mass movements, and new social and environmental regulations. Politically expressed demands from an increasing number of social groups threatened to make society ungovernable in the eyes of the ruling elites of business and politics. The French philosopher Grégoire Chamayou portrays this crisis decade as the birthplace of our present – as a breeding ground for authoritarian liberalism. In response to the threat, new governing arts were devised in business circles, which included a war against trade unions, the primacy of shareholder value, and the dethronement of politics. However, the neoliberalism that began its victorious march was not simply characterized by a "phobia of the state." The strategy to overcome the governability crisis consisted rather of an authoritarian liberalism, where the liberalization of society implies a verticalization of power: a "strong state" for a "free economy" becomes the new magic formula of our capitalist societies.



